Hide Female Thinning Hair With Headbands

I have a new best friend – the headband! Headbands don’t sound very exciting, but they can be a lifesaver to hide female thinning hair. Every time I go to the mall I end up at the teen stores Claire’s and Icing to check out their supply of headbands and head coverings. And of course chain stores like Target and Wal-mart have a fair supply of various headbands in a variety of widths. I prefer soft headbands because they don’t give me headaches, and they come in widths from 2 inches to 5 inches for more coverage than your average hard headband. Scunci wide headwraps are common headbands you can find at more drug and chain stores.

• Coach Ponytail ScarfsI treated myself to a Coach ponytail scarf last year when I had one of many major hair loss-related meltdowns. The picture in this post is of Coach ponytail scarves – they are really stylish (in my opinion). If you have a Coach outlet store near you, you can get one for around $20; they sell for around $38 in the Coach stores. Or just search for “coach ponytail scarf” on eBay and there are tons of them. They are 2 1/2″ wide, and reversible, so you have two different patterns to wear. I wear them like a headband and then put my hair in a ponytail, letting the ends of the scarf go into the ponytail along with my hair. If your hair isn’t long enough for a ponytail, you can tie the ends of the scarf in a knot. Since the scarves aren’t that wide, I of course wear my Toppik or Great Hair Day to cover the part of my scalp that is still showing. These scarves are super comfortable and they don’t pull your hair at all.

• Bolt Headgear SoftbandzI wanted something even wider than the ponytail scarf so I just got a Softbandz headband, and the great thing about it is that it can be worn 2 inches wide, up to 5 inches wide, which covers the whole top of my head. With careful styling, I can pull my hair in a ponytail and you can’t tell I have a hair loss problem when I have on this headband. Sure this isn’t the best solution, but while I’m in the in-between stage of hoping my hair grows back, and preparing for the fact I may need a hair piece, this is a good intermediate solution.

Since I just got the Softbandz, I’m not sure if it will get stretched out in time. Right now it’s rather tight on my head, so I do slightly worry it will contribute to traction alopecia, but at this point I have to do something to cover my hair. The headband is very secure, so it keeps my flyaways in place and doesn’t feel like it could fly off in a big windstorm. You can find a variety of different colors and patterns of Softbandz on Amazon, at boltheadgear.com, or they also sell them on eBay. I’m thinking of getting a bunch in different patterns – the one I got has a cute 60s style Pucci print. It just dawned on me that this might be okay to wear in the pool too – it’s made of lycra, which is swimsuit material. Ooh good thinking. And it will cover your scalp – when your scalp starts getting sunburned easily you know you have thinning hair:(

• eBay
If you search for “wide headbands” on eBay.com you will come up with thousands of different headband options! There are plain ones that come in a variety of colors for only a few dollars each.

• BandanasI haven’t bought any bandanas yet, but this classic head covering can be worn in a variety of ways to cover your thinning hair, and they sell for as cheap as $1 at beauty supply stores or Walgreens. When I think of bandanas I think of doing housework for some reason.

• ScarvesRegular scarves can also be worn in a headband fashion. I’ve been on the lookout for square scarves that are wide enough to be folded into a headband. Finally The BeauBeau is another fashionable scarf made especially for women suffering from hair loss due to alopecia or cancer. They come in fashionable prints and cover your whole head. They also don’t need to be tied so they are easier to wear than traditional scarves.

• The drawbacks of headbandsI work from home and don’t usually go anywhere fancy, so I can get away with wearing headbands and scarves most of the time. The wider ones look sort of casual, though, so I can’t really imagine wearing them out to a fancy place, or to a wedding (which I have coming up). I’m sure I can find some sort of fancy wide headband to disguise my thinning hair if I look hard enough. At least you can probably wear headbands in most office environments (as opposed to hats, which are frowned upon in a lot of places). And some of the tighter headbands I have (like the Softbandz) pose the potential to pull on my hair if I wear them all day and night every day.

What are your tips for hiding female thinning hair? Do you wear headbands? When Blair Waldorf was wearing headbands every week on “Gossip Girl” I could care less, but now I’ve apparently become her.

I’ve suffered from significant hair thinning in the past two years and being a female in my early twenties, I naturally became very self-conscious. I used to lose handfuls of hair after washing with shampoo and conditioner but since my hair tends to get oily very quickly, I had to wash it everyday. After adapting a strict vitamin regime and cutting down stress, the extreme shedding subsided…but for some reason, no matter what high quality strengthening/organic/expensive product I used, my hair was so limp, thin, and grew so slowly that I kept it short, thinking I’ll never have long yet healthy looking hair again.

Oily scalps are also prone to hair loss/thinning so I needed a gentle but effective cleansing and clarifying shampoo. I must say Made from Earth Tea & Protein Shampoo (which is organic) has SAVED my hair. I used to have the longest, thickest head of hair just 2-3 years ago and this shampoo has stopped the thinning/shedding & makes my hair so much thicker that it might just look like it used to in a few months…

Over the past few years I’ve noticed significant hair loss and only being 19 has really caused me to worry. I’ve tried a lot of hair styles to cover up my scalp but nothing works like scarves. I found that wearing clip on extensions under scarves looks pretty good. I have pretty big ears so I wish I could wear my hair down to cover them, and with my hair up all the time it feels like I’m putting them on display. If anyone has any good ideas on how to wear thinning hair down please do tell.

Hi, I have very thin hair especially around the crown and sides of my head. I wear Buffs which you can get from of the internet google merino wool buffs and that should get you the correct site. Lots of nice colours and perfect for covering ears. I leave hair sticking out around my face and neck area, look great and can be worn for all occasions especially good in hot weather as the wool product breaths and does not get hot. I also stretch the buff so it does not sit too tight on my head, makes hair look thicker too. (:

I have grown out bangs (down to my chin) and pull them back with a clip – helps cover the back of my head where the hair is super thin and could cover ears too if you leave the hair on your sides down.